Wednesday Weigh-In 28 August

I'm going to start this article by telling you something you really don't want to know. Summer has pretty much come and gone. Ok, we're still getting some nice sporadic sunshine, but the days are visibly getting shorter and September is coming up in a flash. Sorry to depress you but that is rather how it is. Hope you enjoyed it while it lasted.

When looking back over the past three months, I'm pretty proud of what I've achieved. When I got on the scales for my weigh-in on 29 May, the diet was going south. My weight was shooting upwards again and there was a danger that this very public attempt at weightloss was going to peter out into nothing. I was 17st 6lb, fairly demotivated and downright annoyed at having let things slip after a good start to the year.

I was very clear about what was needed at that time 'Consume less, exercise more, lose weight.' A pretty simple equation but one that is not so easy to implement. 13 weeks later I can look back with a large chunk of satisfaction for making it happen.

Consume less - that is probably the easiest bit. I've stayed pretty tightly to my daily plan of cereal, healthy salad, good size main evening meal. With alcohol removed at least 6 days a week and drunk in smaller quantities when I've allowed a tipple, plus near removal of bread, there can be no doubt that my calorie intake has dropped. Good!

Exercise more - I knew when I started out in January that exercise would make or break my goal. In the early part of the year I wasn't motivated, but pulled on my trainers a couple of times in May for some light jogging, followed by heavy wheezing. For whatever reason, I found that I enjoyed it. Sure it was blimming hard in those early days but things progressed. I've had lunchtime dates with a treadmill on average three times a week, and the last 8 Saturday mornings have been spent participating in 5k ParkRuns. I've even signed up for a 10k in a few weeks time. Another box ticked.

Runner 1226 ready for action!

And so where does that leave me on the weightloss front. Well, in a pretty good place actually. 17st 6lb 13 weeks ago, now weighing in at 15st 10lb. 3lbs shed this week. 24lbs gone during the summer, 38lbs in total for the year, with a tantalising 3lbs left to go before I hit target weightloss. Proof that when applied correctly, the equation works.

Been another very good week

So for me it has been a great summer. The good weather, family holiday and The Ashes have been a welcome bonus, but as the autumn draws in I'll be reflecting on a period where I've taken great strides into making 2013 Year Of The Diet.

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Reasons to be cheerful

It is a Bank Holiday weekend, and while the weather for the most part has been pretty miserable, I've found plenty of reasons to be cheerful.

Yesterday morning I got back into the running groove and brought up a new personal best for the 5k, clocking 26:20, beating my course record by 31 seconds and taking 15 seconds from my overall PB that I ran in Bradford two weeks ago. Armed with a new set of clip-on headphones, this was the first time I've run with music in my ears and it helped with the trudge around the damp Black Park. Also for the first time I adorned a running vest which wasn't incredibly flattering. I think I'll have to find myself some biceps from somewhere if I'm going to wear it more often.

Headphones good, vest displaying untoned flabby arms bad

Later in the morning I attended my eldest son's graduation ceremony. He's not some child genius, but his nursery like many others run a nice little event to mark the end of his time there before the transition to school. With my boy dressed smartly for the occasion I had to peer into my wardrobe to find something decent to wear (the vest was a definite non-starter!) To my great surprise, I found myself comfortably getting into my jeans and so smugly wore those along with a M-sized short sleeve shirt. Happy days! The graduation was very sweet and all the kids looked fab in their gowns. Regrettably I missed most of it as the little one was a bit on the grumpy side, but there was a nice little family picnic afterwards, admittedly sheltered from the rain.

One man and his boy - can't quite believe he starts school in a few days time

Saturday evening I had a rare night away from the boys and went to visit my best man and his baby daughter. I purposefully drove to avoid making it a boozy trip and ate beforehand despite the knowledge that my pal would be ordering himself a curry. I was pretty proud of myself at declining leftovers, despite the veggie samosa looking so good. When I got home I didn't have a drink either, so rare brownie points for me on a Saturday night.

Today has been a pretty quiet affair, with my lovely wife letting me catch up on lost sleep by sending me back to bed mid-morning. It is always good to recharge the batteries once in a while and I very much appreciate the opportunity. When I woke up, news filtered through on the phone that my friend James had done really rather well in his Triathlon, completing the course in under three hours. A few weeks back he was trying to encourage me to do one with him, though as I pointed out, I'm still learning the ropes with running, and felt trying to cope with three disciplines would be a bit much. Still, I'm full of admiration for him, not least as he opted to raise money for the Shine Charity who were such a great help to my family. So may I very publicly say well done mate, and thanks to everybody who sponsored you.

Looking at the clock, in five weeks time, all being well I will have completed my first 10k race. It is coming around quickly now so will have to up my game in my preparation. I know my colleagues are doing the same and collectively we're looking forward to it, albeit with a touch of apprehension. Please support us if you can as we bid to raise money for the Lynda Jackson Macmillan Centre http://www.justgiving.com/teampcc

And if I needed further reason to be cheerful, there is no work on Monday because of the bank holiday. In fact, with time creeping forward to the end of August, I won't be facing Monday Morning Blues again until November, as I'm due to start my period of Additional Paternity Leave. It will be a shame to lose the gym as a result, but I'm very much looking forward to spending quality time with my little one and getting his big brother settled into the school routine.

Whatever you're up to for the rest of the long weekend, enjoy!

Wednesday Weigh-In 21 August

A relatively quiet week on the blog front means this is my first post since the last weigh-in. What has been happening in the meantime? Well, I had what I'd call my most 'relaxed' weekend in a while. After a family picnic at Ruislip Lido, where I ventured back towards bread and consumed a couple of pork pies to boot, we ate out in the evening. Now, try as you might to make things better for yourself, you know before you step foot in a Toby Carvery that you will be leaving somewhat less healthy. Even with only opting for 2 roast potatoes and filling my plate with cabbage and cauliflower, I could see my Saturday morning run being scrubbed from history at the food counter. Worse still, because we had vouchers for free ice cream and not everybody wanted one, I ended up eating about two and a half portions. Not great behaviour from somebody wanting to lose weight!

Having let my guard down somewhat on Saturday, I found Sunday a struggle and couldn't help but eat a bit more than I needed to have done. A Cornetto from the freezer. A couple of cake bars. A packet of my 4yr old's 'Animal Biscuits'. I was feeling tired from the day before and adding sugar seemed liked a good idea at the time. Except that it never is as you then struggle with the rest of the day as your body pines for more sugar when levels go down. It filtered into my Monday as well and I felt pretty awful at work. I did manage to keep to my diet and just about survived a trip to the gym, but in the evening I surrendered to a large vanilla Onken Biopot which didn't last very long. There are worse things that can be eaten admittedly, but even so, I've come to expect a little bit better of myself.

The Saturday morning run didn't quite go according to plan either. It was always going to happen that I would stop setting PBs and my little run of success came to an end this weekend. After a somewhat slow start in which I got rather boxed in at the start, I used up a bit too much energy getting past people and making up for lost time. RunKeeper clocked my second km at 4m45s which is sub-24 minute pace. Subsequently I struggled during the middle stages of the race, ran out of puff and laboured to a finishing time of 27.04. This was only 13 seconds slower than my best time on the course so strictly speaking not bad, but I was disappointed with how the run went and know there is plenty of room for improvement.

I rather proved my point with that in the gym yesterday. Having been annoyed with myself for my eating over the weekend, and for a pretty pointless session on the treadmill on Monday, I focused on my job at hand and decided it was time I ran 5k in 25 minutes. Barring the first minute when I'm walking at 7kph pace to get the machine up to speed and enter numbers into the computer, I ran the distance at a consistent 12kph for the first 4k, stepping up to 13k and sprinting at 17k to round of the last km. 5k covered in a shade under 25 minutes. If I could replicate that outdoors, I'd be a very happy bunny.

So where am I today with the weigh-in? Well in spite of my weekend excess, I've managed to drop 2lbs. 16st1lb last week, 15st13lb today. Two and a half stone lost since January 2nd and just 6lbs to shed before I reach my target of 15st 7lb. It is taking a while but I'm getting there!

Great to see 15 at the start - been a while!

Finally, I received a pat on the back from an unexpected source at the weekend. My sister and I like all siblings prefer to engage in banter rather that directly offer one another praise. So to receive a public commendation on Saturday night as I did came as a bit of a surprise. True it was delivered as a back-handed compliment, but I'd expect nothing less. Thanks Sis!

Ok so he's a total running and diet bore these days but fair's fair Little Brother looking shit hot! www.yearofthediet.com

As the paragraphs above evidence, I'm guilty as sin of being a running and diet bore. But I'll let you judge for yourself on whether I'm looking as good as she says

Big kid in a playground

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Wednesday Weigh-In 14 August

The weekend marked the 5th year since my wonderful wife stood by my side and uttered the words 'I Do'. With two young children added to the family, a romantic weekend to celebrate our anniversary was always out of the question, but we did get away all the same. Staying with my in-laws guarantees three things. 1) A chance to spend quality time with family. 2) Excellent hospitality. 3) I will eat and drink too much.

The latter has always been my own fault. Whereas I'm more inclined to turn down a beer from the fridge at home, when offered one there more often than not I say yes. This trip though was a little different. I was determined to enjoy my time but not kick the diet into touch. That is what usually happens on Christmas visits, hence why my dieting fires up on 2nd January every year! For a 4 night stay to have kept alcohol consumption down to 5 cans of beer and a glass of wine was a marked change, and added to relative restraint on food intake means this trip has resulted in minimal damage to the diet.

It helped that the day trips undertaken involved a reasonable amount of activity, rather than sitting on my backside the whole time. A trip to York Maze results in a fair amount of walking (and getting lost) while a day in Blackpool requires a good amount of time on your feet, whether marching up and down the promenade or standing to attention while the little one enjoys the 2p machines. Throw in the Saturday morning 5k (another 16 seconds off my PB, now standing at 26:35) means this was a pretty active weekend.

So how does all of the above bear out for the Wednesday Weigh-In? Well, this time last week the scales told me I weighed 16st 3lbs. Today they politely inform me that I am now 16st 1lbs. A somewhat surprising loss, but nonetheless very welcome.

2lb gone - getting closer to seeing 15 

I'm inching closer to my target of 15st 7lbs. It appears I'm striking the right balance between reduced food & drink intake and increased exercise. For the most part I'm feeling good and staying away from the bad stuff is proving straightforward, most of the time. I'm on a roll and while things keep moving in the right direction, it is a formula I intend to follow.

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Time to tighten the belt?

English: A worn, black leather belt with buckle. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I've learned over the years that there are two sorts of milestones in dieting. There are the ones that you aim for i.e. specific weight, and then there are the ones that just happen when you're not paying attention and pleasantly surprise you. One of the latter happened to me this morning.

As I was walking into the office, I could hear a clinking noise with every step taken. It wasn't keys in my pocket or loose changing jangling. It was my belt which was making the noise, because it was too loose. I went to tighten it to the next hole and found there wasn't one, and so I removed the belt altogether. It wasn't doing anything functional and apparently it is not needed to hold up my trousers.

So, I've either had a mysterious X files case where my belt has grown longer, or my waist has shrunk in recent times. I'm thinking that the truth is out there and so won't be calling in Mulder and Scully. I've certainly never aimed to buy a smaller belt but it looks like it is something that I'll be doing in the near future, and that feels pretty good.

Signed up and raring to go

It was back on 11 January that I first mooted the idea of running a 10k. However, despite liking the idea in principle, it remained just that and was put to the back of my mind. I had more important things to focus on with the birth of my son, his surgery and recuperation. Then there was the small matter of getting back into the routine of having a baby in your life. Understandably, the running was shelved.

Quite what made me decide to hit the gym and embrace the treadmill when I was at a conference in May I really don't know. Part of it was bloody-mindedness I suppose, having joked over drinks the night before that I'd be up early to exercise. I'm so glad that I did haul myself out of bed though as it provided a springboard for what came next.

I've typically gone to the gym three times a week, primarily to run. It wasn't easy to begin with. Indeed I found it quite a frustrating experience as my asthma combined with poor level of fitness would not let me do what I wanted. Through much perseverance, my stamina improved and got me to a point where I wanted to test the water with an organised run.

My first ParkRun came in early July. A 5k weekly free event, I puffed and wheezed my way round the course in just over 30 minutes. In subsequent Saturdays, I have improved week upon week, notching up a sub-27 minute finish last time out. I look forward to Saturday mornings, and often find myself visualising the course, trying to work out where I can cut out a few seconds next time out.

So having moved forward on the exercise front in recent months, what am I to do next? Well, the logical thing is to go back to that subgoal for this year and participate in a 10k. And that is exactly what I am going to do. Yesterday I registered for the Moor Park 10k event on 29 September, and together with colleagues who are fellow rookies at running, we are looking to complete the course and in doing so fundraise for a worthy charity. All donations are welcome 

In the next 8 and a half weeks, I'm going to have to up my game. I've never come close to running 10k, so I will have to find time to run beyond what I'm doing already, and get my legs and lungs ready for the race. If I can continue to lose a lb a week as I have done recently, I'll be getting close to my target weightloss around the time of the race. Wouldn't it be great to hit that mark and then cross the finish line? One can hope! The important thing is to get myself physically ready for the run and if by doing so I can close in on my goal in the process, that would be a nice bonus on the side.

Some hard miles ahead then. 8 weeks doesn't seem nearly long enough to get ready, but then in less than 8 weeks I went from completely unfit to finishing a 5k. I can do this, and look forward to the challenge.

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Wednesday Weigh-In 7 August

This weekend marks five very happy years of marriage. Although my goal for the year was to get down to wedding day weight, I am a touch disappointed that I've not managed to hit that target by the time of our anniversary. Still, hopefully my other half will accept me as I am - she puts up with most of my other faults!

The Wednesday Weigh-In has been kind for the third week running. Last week the scales balanced at 16st 4lb. This week there is another small loss. Slow and consistent, it isn't exactly a thrilling way to lose weight but it is effective. It just feels like a whole lot more work is going into shifting 1lb than it was earlier in the process. The fact that the scales keep moving though is good. It is so much less motivating when things don't happen.

lb by lb - the weight is shifting

My running continues to go well. Last Saturday I had hoped to dip under 28 minutes having run 28:02 the week before. Imagine my surprise then when I not only managed to do that but also went into sub-27 minute territory, finishing in 26:52. I knew the time was going to be pretty quick, based on using the RunKeeper app for the first time doing the 5k. I didn't quite set it up right however, so the GPS didn't work. This had a somewhat negative effect in that the phone told me every five minutes that I had run 0km at 0km/h. Fortunately enough the 5 minute intervals came about at times when I was passing the 1km, 2km and 3km markers, which meant I knew I was running closer to gym pace. This meant that even with the last 2k going a touch slower, I was going to break my previous best. It was very satisfying when the official result came through and I had indeed smashed it.

I may have been getting a little carried away with the ParkRun lark, as I found myself on Saturday night looking for locations near to where I'll be going for a short break with my family. While my enthusiasm to keep going and striving to improve my fitness is admirable, my wife was right to point out that putting a run ahead of family time while we're away is not the right priority. So it looks like I'll be having a Saturday morning off!

On the weightloss front, I'm going to have to show patience. Getting under 16st is tantalisingly close but yet it may take a while to get under. Still, I'd much rather be where I am now that I was a couple of months back, seeing the numbers going the wrong way and minimal exercise taking place, It is strange to think that less than three months ago I hadn't been on a treadmill for a couple of years. Now I'm a regular 5k runner. Quite amazing what you can make your body do when you put your mind to it.

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The Big Squeeze

One of the things to look forward to when losing weight, is feeling your clothes get looser and knowing that you can drop a size. I sometimes hear people talking about wanting to get back into their ‘skinny jeans’ or an outfit they wore when they were younger. While my primary reasons for dieting this year are health and family related, I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t part of me that was looking forward to fitting into some of the clothes I was wearing a few years back.

My Gap jeans are nothing particularly special to the naked eye, but to me they hold more value than just covering up my pasty legs and unattractive underwear. The importance lies in the waistsize. Size 36L. It isn’t particularly skinny, but fairly respectable all the same. More to the point, when I bought them some five years ago and proudly wore them, it meant I had managed to lose a whole foot off my waist.

At my largest I was wearing 48 inch trousers, which I had to order from a mail order company specialising in oversize clothing. I couldn’t buy them on a typical high street. The transformation I underwent to scale down from that size to being able to walk into Gap and buy jeans off the peg involved month after month of diet, exercise and commitment. Even though my journey in 2013 is less dramatic, that feeling off success still lingers.

Last December I was splitting larger trousers down the seam in a garage forecourt because I had filled out again. That incident has been a driving factor in my quest to downsize this year. It reminded me of what used to be a regular occurrence when I was huge, and the embarrassment that went with it. Never again if I can help it.

My sides were splitting with laughter. Not!

So those jeans are in my wardrobe, just waiting for me to fit into them. Hopefully it won’t be long now before I can dust them off and get reacquainted.

Pizza, Pasta, Pudding!

The blog has settled into something of a repetitive beast in recent weeks. The traditional Wednesday weigh-in has been joined by a staple article in which I talk about my latest run. This probably hasn't made for the most interesting of reading, particularly if the concept of putting on a pair of trainers and shorts and making yourself hot and breathless is about as appealing as a slice of damp bread. So breaking from the mould, pun intended, instead I'm going to write about a treat I enjoyed yesterday evening.

Eating out hasn't been high on my agenda in my bid to lose weight, but with the kids in the capable hands of grandma, my wife and I enjoyed a rare trip to a restaurant on our own. It was nothing too extravagant (our appreciation comes from a full and happy tummy, rather than Michellin stars), but a nice quiet meal for two at Prezzo was just the order of the day, not least as it is rare these days to be able to do so.

Even though this was a treat, part of me was still thinking with the diet hat on. I've written before about the perils of social eating and while I'm not averse to hogging out once in a while, I wanted to be relatively restrained and not go overboard. With that in mind I had spent a bit of time looking through the online menu in advance of getting to the restaurant. The starters didn't look all that impressive so that was an instant area to save on calorific intake. Knowing that I was designated driver meant I could ignore the beer and wine menu too.

That meant when it came to ordering, I was quite happy to go for whatever I wanted. We decided rather than go for individual meals we would do some mixing and matching. We opted for the Steak and Rocket VIP pizza, which sounded great on paper but didn't quite live up to expectations. I can understand not putting rocket and cherry tomatoes on the pizza until after it has been cooked as they would be destroyed in the heat, but to not do that with the red onion was a mistake, and several mint imperials and brushes of teeth later I'm still tasting onion some 16 hours later. We also plumped for the 2 classic pasta deal, with my wife enjoying a penne with salmon dish while I had a chicken option.

Half a pizza and a portion of pasta sounds like quite a lot, particularly when we had a mixed salad side on top, but if truth be told it wasn't too onerous. The pizza was very light, while the pasta was quite delicate and not smothered in sauce. I certainly felt less bloated from eating this than I would have done from a takeaway pizza option. As a result, I decided to plump for a dessert and thoroughly devoured my sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream.

Red onion aside, it was a lovely evening with good company. An enjoyable treat and one that I don't think will cause much damage to my weightloss goals. I ran Saturday morning (blimming well actually, taking 71 seconds of my PB for a 5k) and resume my lunchtime gym activity today. Therefore any excess from Sunday night will soon be eliminated.

When I reach my goal, and I definitely will, I know that the diet won't stop in its tracks. Having lost weight in the past and then seen it return with ease, I understand that simply putting on the handbrake would be a backward step. I'm never going to be a pristine athlete or slim Jim, but just as I've worked hard to lose the lbs this year, I'll have to keep things going to make sure I keep the weight off.

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